Friends Over Family
by Olive D
Summary: Imagine Sam and Dean finding out you lived in an abusive home. One shot written from the point of view of the reader.


Hunting is always exhausting emotionally and physically. But this time, the hunt had left you totally drained. You had found a pattern of suspicious deaths in a small town a couple of hours away and gone to check it out with the boys. When you got there, your research and recon showed that you were hunting a ghost. As it turned out, it was the ghost of a ten-year-old boy who was getting revenge on abusive parents.

Personally, you sympathized with the child, and found his crusade against cruelty admirable, but he was a vengeful ghost and he had to be stopped, so you and the boys had salted and burned his bones. It was simple compared to some of the other stuff you guys had had to deal with, but it wasn't the ghost that had exhausted you. It was dealing with the victims' families.

With every interview, you had to look into the eyes of those little kids who had been freed from their parent's abuse by the ghost. You knew they probably had a longer hospital record than some professional athletes and had to listen to them confess what they had been through at the hands of their own parents. _That _was what had exhausted you.

Once you got back to the bunker you headed straight for your room and locked the door. After the lock clicked shut you let out a heavy sigh and rested your back against the door. You slid down and sat on the floor, knees to your chest, head on your knees, and started crying. Not the dainty type of crying either, but big sobs that left your entire body shaking. You cried for the little kids who had seen more violence in their few years than they should have had to see in a lifetime, for the little boy who was murdered by his father, and for your past.

You had never told the boys about your past, it wasn't something they needed to know about you, it wasn't something anyone needed to know about you. They had no idea that you had run away from an abusive home, escaped the horrible things your stepfather had done to you at sixteen. To be honest, the boys didn't even know your real name. You had changed it after you ran, never looking back. Seeing all these kids and knowing exactly what they had gone through was bringing up all of the memories you had tried so hard to push down.

There was a knock on the door and you froze, trying to be as silent as possible, "(Y/N)? We're um… going to get some food. Do you want anything?" It was Dean's voice on the other side.

You took a breath to keep your voice steady before answering, "No thanks, I'm good." You waited to hear Dean's footsteps leave, but instead heard a whispered argument between Sam and Dean.

The next time someone spoke it was Sam, "(Y/N), we can hear you. Can you open the door?" He sounded concerned and when you didn't answer he spoke again, "Please?"

You wiped your eyes with shaking hands and stood up, "Yeah, just… just give me a minute," taking a few deep breaths you ran you hands over your arms to calm yourself. You cracked the door open and saw both boys standing in the hallway. "What do you guys want?" You cleared your throat and internally cringed at how rude you sounded.

Neither of them spoke for a minute and you knew they could tell you had been crying. "You were weird that whole hunt, are you okay?" Sam finally asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," you started to shut the door but Dean stopped you, putting a hand on the door. You sighed, "Now what?"

"You're not fine. Tell us what's wrong," Dean demanded. You smiled at his lack of tact then stepped further into your room.

"Nothing's wrong, but I'm really tired. So if you could just…" You motioned to Dean's hand on your door, and tried again to close the door.

This time Dean didn't just hold open the door; he pushed it all the way open and walked into your room. "That's bull and you know it. You have to tell us what's going on."

Sam gave Dean a warning glare, "Dean, calm down." Then he turned to you, "(Y/N), we just want to make sure you are okay, and you obviously aren't so just tell us what's bothering you and we can fix it."

You closed your eyes and rubbed your forehead, "Guys, I really am tired. This case really wore me out. I just need to get some sleep." It was partly true, you _were _tired.

"C'mon. Tell us the whole story." Dean urged, taking a step closer to you.

"Fine," you hissed, "If you really want to know, all of those kids reminded me of myself when I was younger." You folded your arms and glared at the boys.

"Yourself? What are you talking about?" Dean looked confused but you saw a look of recognition cross Sam's face.

"Dean," he tried, "just let it go."

"No, what are you talking about?" Dean fumed, "You were the one who wanted to check on her in the first place!"

You rolled your eyes then took a deep breath, gathering up the nerve to tell them the truth. "Dean look," you sighed again, "I was like those kids. Except I didn't have a vengeful ghost to save me."

This time it was Dean who realized what was happening. "What… but… you were… you told us that you ran away from foster care because you didn't like your foster mother."

You smiled a little at him, "Yeah, that's what I told you. What happened to me isn't exactly something you tell people. 'Hi I'm (Y/N) and I ran away from an abusive home!' " you joked. "I don't like the way people look at me when they find out. Actually it's kind of the way you two are looking at me right now." You remarked.

Then Dean did something you didn't expect; he wrapped you up in a big hug. You froze, unsure of what to do. "Wh… What are you doing?"

He squeezed you tighter, and took a moment before speaking, "I'm sorry."

"What?" You looked over at Sam who looked surprised, but also as if he understood.

"We knew you had some sort of history, " he spoke, " you don't like when people touch you and you always flinch when someone reaches towards you."

You blinked and then felt the tears fall down you cheeks. You wrapped your arms around Dean and cried into his shoulder. After a good cry you sniffled and tried to wipe at the new stain on his shirt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to –"

"Don't worry about it," Dean interrupted. He pulled away but still held onto your shoulders, as if he could shake some sense into you. "You know we would do anything for you right? You don't have to hide things from us."

You nodded and gave a shaky smile, secretly glad that you had been able to make such great friends. After an awkward moment where the three of you looked at each other, unsure of what to say, Dean took a deep breath, "So, how about that food?"

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. I would love to hear back from everyone. I hope you are having a great day and enjoy the rest of it!**


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